Thank you all again; I knew I could rely on this place for a miniature Battle of the Planetariums. Is that the right plural?
Anyway, if I get a karaoke night scheduled, I’ll let you know.
Fourth on the City Museum. There’s a online guide to U.S. Roadside Attractions (more like oddity museums) and it puts the City Museum alongside The House On the Rock as the two truly elite institutions. The Museum was the brainchild of Bob Casilly, a professional sculptor. He got a settlement when his house was leveled for a public works development; he took the bucks and bought a 14 story one-time shoe factory.
He started by building a lifesize whale from white concrete on the first floor. A walk-through whale. Then over the next few decades he, and a crowd of volunteers and assistants, filled the building with so much fascinating stuff that a person might not notice the lifesize whale. There are LOTS of slides and tunnels-- many of them multistory contraptions. Wear old clothes and soft shoes.
Again, the City Museum is great even for adults. St. Louis also has the bowling hall of fame and the horseshoe pitching hall of fame is 35 miles West in Wentzville.
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Sorry, the Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame moved to Arlington, Texas. The Horseshoe HOF is supposedly still in Wentzville, but I can’t find any hours of operation or even a phone number.
For good barbecue, Pappy’s Smokehouse, 3106 Olive St., St. Louis MO.
Get there early. They run out of burnt ends, which are great. But their other choices are very good, too.
Do you know where around Chicago you are going to be? Knowing that may make a big difference as to what’s recommended. Some people say Chicago when it’s really somewhere in the suburbs and can be as far as 2 hours away from downtown. Will you be driving or taking transit?
Lots of good suggestions for St. Louis. Zoo, Botanical Gardens, Cahokia Mounds, and City Museum were most of the places I was going to mention. If you go to the City Museum, consider going to the Tap Room just down the street. Good food and Schlafly Beer.
I have not been there, but I heard the National Blues Museum just opened in St. Louis. I’m not sure where exactly.
If you like Italian food (or at least Italian-American food), there are lots of wonderful restaurants in a neighborhood called The Hill on the south side of the city. Just south of downtown, there’s a neighborhood called Soulard, where you’ll find lots of bars and probably a fair amount of live music.
If you want to head about 20 miles west of StL, the old Main Street in St. Charles is charming. Lots of old houses and antique shops. I think there’s a museum there that has some Lewis and Clark exhibits.
If you go to the Zoo, you’re right next to the Central West End and the University City Loop, two trendy areas with restaurants and night spots.
I miss home. But I’m finally moving back to StL in June. It will be nice to be back.
+1 for St. Charles, it’s just across the Missouri River and not too far from the airport. But I think the OP won’t have a car.
The old cathedral is near the arch and is a quick look-see. It is small. The larger cathedral basilica is a nice tour. Free too. It has one of the largest collection of mosaics in the west. Docents give regular tours there.
The last and only time I went to St, Louis was when Mistermage was taking a test that won’t need to be renewed for another… 3 years? I saw a rainbow, Walmart, PetsMart and a steakhouse. sigh He’s not much on sightseeing. But we did drive around some very scary (road crumbling) areas of Hannibal and saw some amazing sights of Days Gone Bye (with people still living there…) on the way home.
So I am impressed you actually want to see what can be seen and do what can be done.
Too far west to be applicable was a drive through safari park in Missouri… it was awesome, killed the van because of the steep hills and was 20 years ago so could be gone. But I won’t forget being able to feed African animals from the windows with permission! Luckily they had no desire to be in the huge dip so we could push the van down and up-ish when the engine caught.
I think of Missouri and Illinois as having cool places that aren’t in Iowa. And everything else pretty much looks like Iowa. Which I like. It’s pretty much Country interspersed with City living. A nice mix of what entertains.
The St. Louis Art Museum (near the Zoo) is also pretty good, and also free. I think there’s a separate charge for special exhibits. But the general collection is free.
There are two zoos in the Chicago area: one in the city (Lincoln Park Zoo) which is free, and very nice. The other is in the suburb of Brookfield, not free, and nice and big. Both are worth the trip.
If the OP is driving from Chicago to St. Louis, there’s always the option to take Route 66.
You’ll want to pack (or arrange to borrow) layers. This is a fairly volatile time of year weather wise (approaching tornado season in St. L.) so you may get cold rain, you may get thunderstorms, you may get sunny & 80F. There is likely to be a noticeable change between the 2 cities temperature wise–I’m thinking Chicago is about 2 weeks behind St. L. on the spring line. Have fun!
Wasn’t Passover a few weeks ago? Spring Break is long over. Sears Tower in Chicago has been renamed Willis Tower. They have a see through “glass” ledge in the observation tower to step outside the building. Hancock tower quite a few blocks away is almost as tall and you can press your nose against the glass and get tilted out over the edge about 95 stories up. I never let go of the rails. Blue Man Group play about 6 blocks from Wrigley Field . I second the Museum of Science and Industry but do plan on more than the 3 hours I had available. Shedd Aquarium, the list can be endless. Depends on you tastes, where in the city you are, whether you want to ride the CTA.
Passover this year starts Friday night, April 22 and runs through sundown April 30.
There is a baseball team in St. Louis that ovr a century has become by far the most storied, illustrious and successful franchise not rooted in New York City. Games are often sold out, but if you can get tickets, join Cardinal fans for a couple of hours. Baseball in St. Louis is considered an honor, not just an excuse to drink and yell.
There are a couple of special museum exhibits in Chicago right now. The Field museum has the terra cotta warriors from Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The Art Institute of Chicago has the Van Gogh Windows exhibit.
Hey, Staggerlee, how’s the trip going?
Eat atLambert’s. Home of the throwed rolls.